Mints
by TheNightmirage
Summary: "Our children are damned," Jonas mused. "And so are we." Pre-events of Fallout 3. Jonas Palmer/Edwin Brotch fluff.


Jonas generally avoided thinking about himself when he could help it because it usually led to problems. He could sit and think all day about anything else: mathematics, history, philosophy, medicine, or music. It was this instinct to simply sit around and figure things out that had landed him a job assisting the Vault physician-the crotchety old Dr. Wilson. But when it came to intrapersonal reflection, no one hated it more than Jonas Palmer.

It was for this precise reason that the seventeen-year-old fledgling scientist was the first out of the atrium as soon as the wedding ceremony was over. If he had to sit there and watch Overseer Almodovar and his new wife exchange butterfly kisses up on the altar any longer, he thought he just might kill himself. Not because he found the newlyweds' display of affection excessive but because he knew he would soon face pressure to marry too. And the only person he thought he would ever want to marry was someone he never could.

He could feel his mother and grandmother's disapproving glances on his backside as he rushed out of the atrium, but he could not sit there and pretend to be happy for the new couple. He would deal with their disapproval later.

He was soon in the quiet of the Vault hallways. He enjoyed wandering them at night when people weren't bustling about in them. Something about the way his footsteps echoed throughout was comforting.

He shed his coat jacket and yanked off his tie, eager to be out of the damn formalwear. The cold Vault air immediately assaulted his newly exposed neck. He felt free.

"That was brutal."

Jonas jumped at the sudden voice behind him. Heart hammering he turned and found Edwin Brotch at the other end of the hallway. He placed a hand to his chest in a futile attempt to calm his heart, which was now fluttering from more than shock.

"_Holy-_Edwin, you scared the _shit_ out of me!"

"Sorry. I thought you heard me coming up behind you." The future schoolteacher closed the space between them in a few steps. "Did you want to be alone?"

"No, it's okay," Jonas replied. "You thought it was brutal too?"

"What part of that wasn't? If the way those two were looking at each other didn't make me suicidal, then their stupid butterfly kisses certainly sealed the deal."

"I was thinking the exact same thing."

"I just needed some air before the reception."

"At least there will be cake," Jonas told him in a weak attempt at humor. Edwin seemed to appreciate it nonetheless and laughed.

"Yeah, if Andy doesn't ruin it like he often does. Want a peppermint?"

"Sure." Edwin reached down into his coat pocket and extracted two mints. He handed one over to Jonas and popped the other in his own mouth.

"Thanks," Jonas said, taking the mint from him and fiddling with the plastic wrapper. If his heart would just _stop fluttering for two seconds_, then maybe he could say more than six words to the young man at his side.

"Y'know, and this whole thing just reminds me of the awful fact that we're all going to have to get married in a few years," Edwin pressed on. "Then knock up our wives and continue this whole sham for another generation."

"Sham?"

"This whole place is a joke, Jonas. The gene pool is dwindling fast. The food sucks. The water chip can't hold out forever. Sometimes I think it would just be better to go up to the surface and let the radiation kill us off. It would be quick with how high the levels are."

"Don't say that," Jonas pleaded. "Or at least don't let the Overseer hear you say that."

"You gonna tell him?"

"Of course not."

"Then we'll be okay." They walked on in silence for a few seconds. Jonas continued to fiddle with his peppermint's wrapper. It crinkled loudly in his hands.

"I agree with you, if that means anything," he finally told Edwin. "I struggle with that a lot because I work in medicine. Sometimes I think it would just be more ethical to let everyone go quickly out there then continue living here. But we can't leave."

"No, we can't. And I think that too. I'm gonna have to teach our kids and all the kids of our peers the same old history. And for what? What good will it do them down here? The most any of them can aspire to is the position of Overseer."

"Our children are damned," Jonas mused.

"And so are we."

"But, still, I suppose it's better to have been born than not at all. At least we can make this life count as much as possible."

They'd come to the end of the hallway that turned into the Vault's classroom. Edwin chuckled to himself.

"Ah, home sweet home to me," he said, indicating the classroom. "Or at least it will be soon enough."

"I think you'll be a good teacher." Something in Jonas's brain immediately began screaming at him as soon as those words left his mouth.

"_Are you TRYING to confess your love for him, you idiot?"_

"I mean, you know…for what it's worth," he stammered in an attempt to fix the situation.

"Thank you," Edwin said, sincerely. "I mean that. No one's ever said that to me before. As soon as I got my G.O.A.T back, my dad just said he knew I'd carry on the family tradition of teaching. But he never said he thought I'd be good at it. So, thank you."

"Any-anytime." He was fumbling frantically with the peppermint wrapper now.

"Do you want some help with that?" Edwin asked, nodding down at the mint.

"S-Sure." He held it out. Edwin made to take it from him but instead he grabbed Jonas' hand and held onto it. Jonas willed himself to remember to breathe. What was he doing? This was not happening…he was dreaming…there was no way.

"Jonas," Edwin breathed in his ear and _oh god the boy's mouth forming the syllables of his name was beautiful_. "Please tell me I'm not making this up in my head. You're gay too, right?"

"Y-Yeah…" Jonas thought he would never be able to form another coherent sentence in his entire life.

"I've liked you ever since the day we took the G.O.A.T," Edwin confessed. "And you came running into the classroom literally five seconds before the test started." They both grinned at the memory of Jonas' frantic entrance on the day of the test that determined their careers.

"I like you too."

And Edwin's mouth was suddenly on his, and he tasted like peppermint and Jonas wanted to breathe in every part of him. His lips were softer, softer than he'd ever imagined and more delicious than any sensation he could ever dream up.

Jonas reached over and grabbed the back of Edwin's neck, bringing their bodies smashing together as his nails raked across the man's back. And Edwin's hand slid so effortlessly around Jonas' waist, and he thought he would melt into the Vault's bluish-gray floor.

They broke apart only when a desperate need for oxygen on both ends demanded it. The forgotten peppermint still in the wrapper was beginning to melt from the heat of their combined palms. Neither of them cared enough to break their grasp on one another.

"We have to keep this secret," Jonas finally said.

"I know."

"Do you think we could ever tell-"

"Let's not worry about that right now." Edwin planted a kiss on Jonas' nose. "We have to go back for the reception anyways." Jonas had, obviously, completely forgotten about the wedding and the reception.

"Right."

"Let's walk there together."

"But what if-"

"The hallways are empty. We have a while." Edwin squeezed his hand and dragged his reluctant partner out from the corner by the classroom.

"You still need to open that peppermint for me," Jonas pointed out as they made their way back to the noisy festivities in the Vault Atrium.


End file.
